Lighthouse restoration

Tonight, at the Ocracoke Preservation Society's spring membership meeting, Alex Klahm gave a presentation about the restoration work he and his crew did on the lighthouse this past winter. It was fascinating, and I learned more about the lighthouse structure and history from him than I ever thought to know. He showed loads of pictures, and I wish I could share all of them with you here, but here are just a few.

I loved the fact that the OPS staff had done a little decorating for the event, with a lighthouse theme - there were a couple of paintings, and even a lighthouse lamp on the dessert table.

The fresnel lens in the lighthouse is a work of art in and of itself. The crew were told that if they removed it from the Lighthouse, the Coast Guard might claim it to put in a museum and replace it with a more modern piece of lighting machinery. So they built a protective structure around the lens, to ensure it would not be damaged by staying in place while they did their work, especially the sandblasting. As a result of their extra effort to do that, it's still right there at the top of the lighthouse, where it belongs.

Yes, this is a picture of one of the crew (I believe this is Alex Klahm's son) rappelling down the outside of the lighthouse!

The crew put a fake owl at the top of the lighthouse to keep the birds away while they were working. It did its job so well, they decided to leave it in place! And no wonder the birds like to hang out at the top of the lighthouse - look at that bird's eye view!